North IHC 2nd Round - Ballinahinch 1-17 Silvermines 4-26

Silvermines ran amok in the second half of this rearranged Round 2 clash in the North Intermediate Championship played on Saturday evening.

After a wholehearted Ballinahinch effort only five points separated the sides at half time but Silvermines’ greater abilities shone through in the second period cutting swathes through an often bewildered Ballinahinch defence.

Silvermines were superior in almost every sector and but for the heroics of Cormac McGrath between the Ballinahinch posts could have won by even more. As usual the defence gave little awayand the ‘Mines welcomed Damian Boland back for his first start of the season. Orrie Quirke had a fine hour at centrefield and added an extra dimension to the Silvermines attack with four points from play. Jason Forde and Willie and David Keogh were excellent but it was David Boland who really broke Ballinahinch hearts with his physical strength and fitness as well as contributing a fine personal scoring tally. Sean Quirke made a big impact on his introduction before the interval and covered acres of ground before the finish.

As underdogs, Ballinahinch were always going to find the going tough but never gave up even when all was lost. Alan Kelly, Marcus Ryan and Michael Fitzgerald battled manfully in defence as did Kevin Fitzpatrick and Shane McGrath in midfield. In attack Donnacha McGrath, Ger Griffin and John Foley posed some threat but every score was hard earned and Ballinahinch were very grateful for the unerring accuracy of Griffin from placed balls. Wind assisted, Ballinahinch wasted no time with preliminaries and Shane and Donnacha McGrath combined to set up Ger Griffin for the opening score after just 30 seconds and they led by 0-3 to 0-2 after eight minutes. David Keogh took advantage of a mix up in the Ballinahinch defence for the first goal in the 9th minute and added a point on the run immediately afterwards to put his side two clear. The teams were level again on the quarter hour following two smashing Donnacha McGrath points but Daniel and David Keogh replied in kind to restore the lead for Silvermines. Ballinahinch were still in it to win it at this stage and John Foley won a foot race with Silvermines’ keeper Cathal Sherlock to scramble home a goal and a one point lead in the 20th minute but slack Ballinahinch marking gifted Orrie Quirke a handy equaliser from the resultant puckout. With seven minutes to the interval David Boland sprinted clear of Brendan Healy and popped the ball to Jason Forde who found Willie Keogh in space. Keogh made no mistake in finding the corner of the net for the crucial score. In the remaining few minutes Silvermines added four points with two Ger Griffin frees in reply from Ballinahinch to leave the half time score at 2-11 to 1-9. Ballinahinch needed a good start on the resumption but a Willie Keogh point and Jason Forde goal put Silvermines nine points clear inside the first minute of the second half. With Forde, Orrie Quirke and David Boland, in particular, darting in all directions Ballinahinch found it difficult to cope and even switching Shane McGrath to the centre of defence failed to curb the Silvermines attack. As the ‘Mines machine gathered momentum scores came easy and for every point Ballinahinch ground out, Silvermines quickly countered with two. When substitute Shane Healy added his second point in the 31st minute he brought the Ballinahinch tally to 1-17 which has won many a game but Silvermines added 1-3 in added time for a comprehensive first victory in this year’s championship.